Man Utd fans are set to protest against the club's owners over the next few weeks but Michael Carrick insists that it is in a good place.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox
The Manchester United hierarchy are facing more criticism from supporters(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
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Michael Carrick insists Manchester United hasn't lost its soul as a football club despite the spectre of more fan protests hanging over Old Trafford this weekend, and discontent growing at the ownership of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family.
Carrick is back in charge until the end of the season, just over four years since he stepped in for three games after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked in November 2021. Although supporters are happy to see the former midfielder back, it only adds to the sense that the club is treading water and has lost direction.
United have cycled through Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim as permanent managers since Carrick was last in the dugout, with just the FA Cup in 2024 to show for it, while they have no European football this season and face a battle to get back into continental competition next term.
The arrival of Ineos as minority investors in December 2023 was supposed to herald a new dawn at United, but Ratcliffe has already lost the trust of supporters and key lieutenants Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox are also facing scrutiny.
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Protests are planned ahead of the game against Fulham on February 1, but Ratcliffe and Joel and Avram Glazer could be at the Old Trafford derby on Saturday, having been at Carrington on Thursday for meetings, and their presence at the game could spark another fan revolt. Yet Carrick insists the mystique around United still remains in place and that he has felt positivity since returning to the club earlier this week.
"I certainly don't think it's soulless, I think there's a magic around this place," he said. "I feel at home straight away, coming into the building.
"I've obviously been around it for quite some time and then missed a little window but I think there's a magic around this place, you can't help but feel that. Sometimes, from the outside, things look a little bit different, but it certainly doesn't feel majorly different on the inside.
"Part of my role and responsibility is shaping what we want to look like going forward as a group. What happens on the pitch and the tactical side and the performances is one thing but certainly the culture as well and how we think, how we act, how we behave, what it means to us to be here, that's something that is part of my responsibility to spread in the right way."
Carrick has been handed a contract until the end of the season, but his job title is head coach, rather than interim or caretaker, although he insists no conversations have been had about what will happen beyond the end of this campaign.
United sources insist they will conduct a "thorough process" to appoint a permanent head coach and while Carrick has the chance to state his own case across the next 17 games, he is only thinking about the impact he can make in the short-term.
"I'm here because I enjoy the role and I wanted to do it and I'm hugely privileged to be in this position", he said. "That's kind of where I am, it doesn't change whatever the term or whatever the length.
"I'm here to do my best and hopefully I've got a lot of experience of what it takes and where we need to get to and I'll try and help with that."